Proceedings from THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-2017 Conference Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library & Archive Armagh 4 November 2017 organised by the ULSTER LOCAL HISTORY TRUST NI Charity number: NIC101555 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-2017 Conference Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library & Archive Armagh – 4 November 2017 ULSTER LOCAL HISTORY TRUST Page Introduction THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-2017 Dr Seán Beattie, Chair, Ulster Local History Trust 1 The Protestant Reformation in Ireland 1517-1641 Abstract 4 Professor Alan Ford Reform- Reformation in South Ulster and North Leinster Abstract 6 Dr Brendan Scott An Irish Prisoner of Conscience, Archbishop Creagh of Armagh 1523- 1586 Paper Professor Colm Lennon 9 The Reformation in Ireland, Interpretations Old and New History Ireland - 2016 Dr Henry Jefferies 22 The Reformation Conference Invite 28 The Reformation Programme 29 Introduction to THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-201 by Dr Seán Beattie Chair – Ulster Local History Trust at the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library & Archive Armagh – 4 November 2017 organised by the ULSTER LOCAL HISTORY TRUST I think the world must know by now that Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg 500 years ago last Tuesday. This momentous event was commemorated by the most powerful woman in Europe, namely Angela Merkel at the very church where it happened. Luther’s act of defiance was one of these events that has changed the world so it is worthy of being remembered. The challenge he threw down to the Church was however not the first of its kind and in the 15th century, the Lollards are noteworthy as one of many groups who objected to abuses in the church unsuccessfully. Why did Luther succeed in igniting the flame that has continued to burn for centuries across Europe? Gutenberg and Caxton provided Luther with a new technology to carry out his mission. The printing press was the social media of its day and it delivered Luther’s message to the hidden corners of the Empire. Luther was successful for political reasons also. The warring rulers of the small nation states that formed Germany adopted the new religion; they believed in the principle cuius principe, eius religio – in other words state control of religion. Saxony was first to proclaim the Reformation for its citizens and within a short time, several other powerful princes had become followers of Martin Luther. Meanwhile in England, Henry V111 broke the ancient connection with Rome in order to secure a divorce from Catherine of Aragon- incidentally, the Kingdom of Aragon is present-day Catalonia - but it was not until the reign of Elizabeth 1 that the Protestant religion was established firmly in England and our first speaker this morning will throw some more light on this. 1 Dr Seán Beattie – Introduction - The Reformation Conference Since starting work on this conference one image has been dominant. I refer to Thomas Jenner’s print of the 1640s now on display in the British Museum. It shows 15 reformers standing around a table with a candle burning in the centre. The sub text reads – The candle is lit- it cannot burn out. In many ways, it reflects the simplicity of Luther’s first act in nailing the Theses on the church door and also the determination of those who followed him across the world. Ireland was a late comer to the Reformation. The Plantation of Ulster was important in carrying through the Reformation in Ulster. The arrival of Gaelic speaking Scots in counties Antrim and Down helped to implant Presbyterianism in the north east. In the North West, settlers in the Laggan area of Donegal ensured the Reformation was embedded by the 1650s. The story of the Reformation is not straightforward. Emigration on a grand scale, the Penal Laws, wars of religion, executions and burnings at the stake all featured in this monumental episode in our history. 2 Dr Seán Beattie – Introduction - The Reformation Conference Last month I visited St Paul’s Cathedral in London where a series of sermons on the Reformation were preached. I was fortunate to hear a brilliant sermon by Rev Andrew Carwood, Musical Director at St. Paul’s. He ended his sermon by asking three questions: 1. Did the church need reform? The answer was undoubtedly YES 2. Did it lead to extremism, violence and deep unhappiness? Again the answer was YES 3. Have we learned the lessons of the Reformation? No. He added that until we realise that history provides clues to solving our present day problems, we will never address the divisions which still rack the church and we will never realise the hurt that religious intolerance can bring. Quoting from the poet Thomas Hardy, he asked will there ever be a time when all will “go well”? Speaking from a Christian perspective, he concluded that we must keep on trying. As historians assembled here in the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, we can say that today we are still looking at our history to provide a better understanding of the Reformation and hopefully by this evening, we will not have the definitive answer but we may have found a few more clues. 3 Abstract The Protestant Reformation in Ireland 1517-1641 by Professor Alan Ford – Nottingham University THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-2017 Conference at the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library & Archive Armagh – 4 November 2017 organised by the ULSTER LOCAL HISTORY TRUST The History of the History of the Reformation ‘Truth is the daughter of time’ – the 500th anniversary of the Reformation gives us an opportunity to look back and see how historians have written the history of the reformation, and how their histories have been shaped by their assumptions and biases. This requires us to examine how the two historical traditions which the Reformation gave rise to – the Protestant and the Catholic – constructed two rival and mutually hostile histories of the Reformation. In Ireland these traditions existed in parallel from around 1600 right down to the middle of the twentieth century. For the Protestants James Ussher traced the roots of the Church of Ireland back to St Patrick, and claimed that the early Irish church was largely independent from Rome. Catholic stressed the close connections between Patrick and Rome and the continual loyalty of the Irish people to the Catholic religion, resulting in a close identification of Catholicism and Irishness. By the middle of the twentieth century the professionalization of the historical profession and the rise of ecumenism significantly changed the way that historians wrote the history of the reformation. Historians were no longer exclusively members of the church they were writing about, and Patrick could now be claimed equally by both churches. Nevertheless, elements of the older historiography persisted even into this century. Reading Alan Ford, ‘Shaping history: James Ussher and the Church of Ireland’ in Mark Empey, Alan Ford & Miriam Moffitt ed., The Church of Ireland and its past history, interpretation and identity (Four Courts Press: Dublin, 2017) Joe Liechty and Cecelia Clegg, Moving beyond sectarianism (Columba Press: Dublin, 2001) 4 Biography Professor Alan Ford Born in Dublin, Alan Ford was educated at Trinity College Dublin and St John’s College, Cambridge. He has worked in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs (1982-1988) The University of Durham (1988-1998), and Nottingham University (1998-2016) where he was o Professor of Theology o Head of the School of Humanities o Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and o Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning. He retired in 2016 in order to cultivate his garden and spend more time writing history. He is the author of: James Ussher: theology, history, and politics in early-modern Ireland and England (Oxford University Press, 2007); and, most recently, he co-edited with Mark Empey and Miriam Moffitt The Church of Ireland and its past: history, interpretation and identity (Four Courts Press, 2017). 5 Abstract Reform – Reformation in South Ulster and North Leinster by Dr Brendan Scott – Maynooth University THE REFORMATION Then and Now: Perspectives and Change 1517-2017 Conference at the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Library & Archive Armagh – 4 November 2017 organised by the ULSTER LOCAL HISTORY TRUST This paper discussed the south Ulster diocese of Kilmore in the sixteenth century following the introduction of reform in 1536 and compare events there with what happened in the Pale diocese of Meath at roughly the same time. Isolated from the arm of English administration and away from the influence of the Pale, Kilmore remained essentially a Gaelic and pre-Tridentine Catholic diocese throughout the sixteenth century. Recently compared to a ‘corporate takeover’, the Anglican authorities were compelled to continue with an unreformed pre- and early Reformation clergy, who often had no interest in adhering to the new reforms. The events of 1536 and the introduction of the Protestant Reformation into Ireland had little immediate impact on Ireland and even less on the diocese of Kilmore. Edmund Nugent, a member of an Anglo-Norman family from the borderland marches between the Pale and Gaelic Ireland, had already been bishop of Kilmore since 1530. Henry VIII had recommended Nugent for the bishopric who was duly appointed bishop of Kilmore by the pope, Clement VII, on 22 June 1530. Henry VIII was excommunicated by the same pope in July 1533. That Nugent survived as bishop of Kilmore until his death in 1550 is a tribute to his ability to navigate the uncertain and choppy waters of the Henrician reformation. Although the second richest diocese in Ireland after Dublin, the annual income of the bishopric of Meath in the late 1530s was IR£373 12s.